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Light
Grand Theft Auto: Light & Shadow'' or just '''Light & Shadow' ''or' ''GTA L&S '''is an action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar Studios (lead by Rockstar North) and published by Rockstar Game . Released on November 20, 2020 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Unfortunately, due to it advance mechanics, the game can't support multiplayer and never released for PC. ''Light & Shadow ''is set within the fictional city of Vice City, based on Miami in 2017 and centered around Thomas Kingston, an ambitious con-men looking for more recognition in the city underworld with help of his friend Harold. As he make his way, a mysterious underworld plot threat his dream and people who close with him, forcing him to made an unlikely alliances with two manipulative criminals who also investigating the plot: Maria Vinogradova, a female contract killer; and Andrea Acconcia, corrupt detective affiliated with various crime syndicates in the city. The story deals with themes of deception/manipulation and betrayal. As the title explain, the main aspect of ''L&S ''is the balance between '''Light' and Shadow. As the light, Vice City is a glitz and glamour city of major tourists destination for the beaches and entertainments; and a right place for elite people to build home or business. As the shadow, Vice City has a dark underworld with gang rivalries, drugs, and arms trade; a home for top kingpins, a capital city of crime in United States. The concept influenced by the contrast of IV ''gritty storyline to ''V ''that more emphasize the glitz and actions, as well as "betrayals" that made a major role in many previous stories. ''Light & Shadow ''reveals the grittier side of a lighthearted Vice City. Unlike any other game in the franchise, ''L&S ''has a more action-thriller theme rather than the traditional "over-the-top" action, the story of ''L&S is explored through this and player "forced" to understand the story to progress. Although some media feared the game would fail, L&S ''received massive criticial acclaim once released. Apart from the high-level visual graphics, reviewers also praised the quality of the story and characters, the theme, and the open world. Metacritic calculated an average score of 98 our of 100 based on 64 review. ''Edge, Eurogamer, Game Spot,'' and ''IGN ''all gives their perfect score for the game. Although the narrative is the main selling point, it also generate controversy and some criticize the game as "the most difficult GTA game to date". 'Settings' ''L&S was set in summer to winter 2017, then moves to summer 2018 once the main story finished. Although the game released in 2020, the developer didn’t want a large gap between V ''and ''L&S ''timeline. 'Vice City' (Miami) return as main setting location. '''Great Deer Key' (Big Pine Key) and John Doe Key (No Name Key) serves as the main location for Chapter III and it’s only accessible during this chapter or once player reach 100% completion. * Gangs in Light & Shadow Vice City nicknamed as''' “The Bridge” by criminals, as it connects North and South American underworld. Drugs smugglers from Latin America store their products in Vice City before distribute it further to North America and Europe. '''Story Main Article: Story of Light & Shadow * "The Third Side" Pulled into an accidental problem with "The Third Side"; [[Thomas Kingston|'Thomas Kingston']]' '(Freddie Thorp), [[Maria Vinogradova|'Maria Vinogradova']] (Aleksandra Bortich), and [[Andrea Acconcia|'Andrea Acconcia']]' '(Raoul Bova). were forced to team up to finish their business. Despite being a small-time criminal when compared against the top kingpin of the city, they already made a name for their... manipulative personality, just like the game title. Instead of declaring a direct war against their enemy, they decide to manipulate and influenced them in a way to plan an unsuspected destruction. However, their moves slowly changes what on their mind and grew a suspicion and awareness among the other. Despite having three protagonists and one major plot, each characters also have their own separate plots and problems. *Characters in Light & Shadow The story will show how much IV ''and ''V ''event impact a place far away from nowhere, without including previous characters or altering the canon they've made (in response of fans criticism towards the death of Johnny Kleblitz). The story only features original character, but many references from past events. With no direct connection to original timeline, ''L&S ''is an "optional GTA". You don't need to buy it to continue ''V ''or ''VI: ''"If you not ready and don't like it, then just don't buy it." '''Overview' Gameplay L&S is an action-adventure game played from a third-person perspective. Players complete missions—linear scenarios with set objectives—to progress through the story. Outside of missions, players may freely roam the open world Vice City and its surrounding. As the story progress, the surrounding environments may constantly changes and more map contents available. The game features many new gameplay mechanics applied from previous Rockstar works, especially Red Dead Redemption II. In combat, auto-aim and a cover system may be used as assistance against enemies. Stealth mechanic was greatly enhanced from the previous edition which reworked from seemingly-abandoned Agent, including crouching and crawling. Should players take damages, the only way to replenish their health is by consumes medical kits or painkillers similar to Max Payne 3. Foods and drinks replenish health slowly. * Weapons L&S ''features a more complex weaponry mechanics. Players only able to brought limited weapons, ammunition, and other items by each characters are stored in “slots” and some items may cost more than a single slot in the player inventory, such as shotgun. Player clothing and presence of a duffel bag or briefcase may increased or decreased the number of slots available. Luckily, player can now stores some of this to safehouses and car trunk. * Polices If players commit crimes and witnessed by innocent civilians, they may report it to nearby law enforcer or call them by phone. This witness marked by “eye” blip on the map and player can threat them to stop them for report the crime, with small chance that other civilians will become another witness. If the report successful, the law enforcement agencies will respond and player receive a “wanted star” to a maximum six-star level. The law enforcement AI was fully reworked in ''L&S, creating a more realistic and logical wanted system. Law enforcement officers will search for players who leave the wanted vicinity. The meter enters a cooldown mode and eventually recedes when players are hidden from the officers' line of sight that displays on the mini-map. As the multiple characters system return, player able to switch between characters anytime during and outside of mission. Some missions features multiple protagonists and the game may switch characters automatically during missions to complete certain objectives. Player now able to give order to other character to shot down a target or move to a location in certain cases. * Maintenance In addition, player need to maintains each characters in similar method to RDR II. They needs to rest, take a sleep, eating foods, or drinks to keep themselves healthy, otherwise, they'll feel tired, have less health and it took longer to replenish it when damaged if they were sick. Fat system isn't featured in the game, but a stamina bar has been added that depletes while sprinting or carried a heavy weapon. In addition, the unique ability from V ''for each character was removed for a more challenging gameplay. Character customization are much more limited compared to ''V, more like IV. No option to remove a character's top, bottom, or shoes. Barber shop still available to edit character hairstyle. The developers aware that an odd taste of character appearance could lead to the lost of the story aesthetic. While free roaming the game world, players may engage in context-specific activities ranges from darts to scuba diving underwater. Each character has a smartphone for contacting friends, starting activities, accessing an in-game Internet and enter cheat codes. Graphic Utilizes an even more advanced Rockstar Advanced Game Engine, developed at the same time as the storywriting phase, L&S ''brings on a new level graphic and animations inspired from ''Nortlight Engine ''by ''Remedy Entertainment ''to create a realistic movie-like visualization in hope for a better taste in the storytelling. In corporation with the Rockstar graphic teams are several game modders, most of them are known to working on previous GTA. Why hiring some fans? to know what exactly most fans wants. There's a rumors that the infamous Martin Bergman who develops the Toddyhancer visual mod also included in the team, creating a logical reason why his work never released. '''Development' * Beta Release Initially, it was planned to become the successor of V ''as the ''VI. But as the story writing goes on, the different theme from other Grand Theft Auto series making the developer thinks it's not suitable enough for becoming the sixth main game. A new title of Light & Shadow was born. The development remain undetected by fans and journalists as Rockstar "distract" them by constantly [https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Updates_in_GTA_Online updating their Online game]. Writing= It is unclear exactly when the core development started, but the story rough sketches already wrote since a week after V ''release. The developer focused on working the narrative first, following many negative reviews of ''V ''narratives. People involved in the game writing includes: Dan Houser, Rupert Humphries, Michael Unsworth, Brendan McNamara who previously writes ''LA Noire, and new to the company Ben Ketai who direct and wrote various movie projects that considered suitable for the game narrative. The team wants a story that continues the Vinewood action tastes and comical relief of V'', but also combined it with ''IV deep and dark story. The main theme of manipulation was inspired by the countless "betrayals" in past stories, all with clear messages to never trusts anyone. Some inspirations also taken from stereotypical crime action films and TV Series in the 2010s, wanted to create something untypical out of typical stuffs. Having a rewrites for three times, the story as what we've seen finally finished after a year and half. |-| Teaser= On December 24, 2019, a week before 2020, Rockstar Games updates their social media profile pictures with a black and white colored logo, a Grand Theft Auto logo also added as a cover image in their youtube, twitter, and facebook account. With a confirmation date of a new project trailer released on the new year, many fans thought it's the Grand Theft Auto VI. The title of Light & Shadow revealed the day before the first trailer released, saying "It's gonna be a different game". |-| Trailer= The first trailer for L&S was released on January 1, 2020. The trailer showcased the landscape of Vice City in the night without a dialogue. The second released three months later on March 3, 2020, showcasing the gangs around the city, without the sign of the game main characters. A week before the third trailer release on May 1, 2020, Rockstar confirms the game will not feature multi-player mode and advice players to play IV and LA Noire first before playing this one, claimed that it's only for "true fans". They tried to kept the main characters a secret until the third trailer, but a blank cover of the game (with the cast and crew included) was leaked the day before it released. The third trailer, more darker, reveals several important point of the game's plot. |-| Pre-release reception= When the third trailer which reveal the story and protagonists released on _, several medias began to worried about this "different" game. The Houser Brothers simply replied that they rather took all the risk or this great opportunity would be missed, They also said that "If we don't do it, then somebody will". When asked about his opinion on ''L&S ''on an interview, Jack Thompson left the room in anger without saying any words. Overall, the protagonists receive a good reception among the fans. Fans also appreciate Rockstar turn on single-player content as "GTA has return to the right direction". Navigation Category:Grand Theft Auto titles Category:Light & Shadow